Saint-Gobain Glass is now offering a new glass with the lowest embodied carbon on the façade market, according to the company. This industry first was accomplished through a production combining high recycled glass content (around 70 percent of cullet), renewable energy, all based on a substantial R&D effort.
As facades represent up to 20 percent of a building's carbon footprint, this innovation will significantly reduce the carbon footprint of construction and accelerate the development of the circular economy, say company officials.
Saint-Gobain Glass’s innovation echoes the first zero carbon production completed in May 2022 at its Aniche factory in France, which allowed the company to refine its manufacturing processes and expertise.
Saint-Gobain Glass is now integrating low carbon products in its portfolio of solutions for facade, starting with the Cool-lite Xtreme solar control range, without any compromise on technical or aesthetic performance.
Reducing the carbon footprint
The new products will use a glass with an estimated carbon footprint of only 7 kg CO2 eq/m2, for a 4-millimeter substrate. This new low carbon glass will be combined with the existing Cool-lite Xtreme coating technology, which already reduces carbon emissions generated by energy consumption needed when using the building thanks to its high performance in terms of daylight intake, solar control and thermal insulation.
As a result, the new range will offer the lowest carbon footprint on the market, say company officials, with a reduction of around 40 percent compared to our European baseline product.
The detailed environmental data will be documented through third party-verified environmental product declarations – EPDs (or FDES in France) – which are currently under development and scheduled for availability in in early 2023.
Low-carbon glass in use
As an early demonstration of the market’s enthusiasm, three major real estate partners, Bouygues Immobilier, Icade Santé and Nexity, have already committed to use low carbon Cool-lite Xtreme glass in their projects:
- Bouygues Immobilier will implement it on its office building operation Kalifornia in Hauts-de-Seine, France,
- Icade Santé will install it on the Elsan Group Polyclinique du Parc in Caen, in Calvados, France,
- Nexity will use it on the Carré Invalides rehabilitation in Paris.
This pioneering initiative is a first step towards an expanded low carbon offer across the different markets of Saint-Gobain Glass. It is fully in line with the Saint-Gobain Group's Grow & Impact strategy, in particular its roadmap towards carbon neutrality by 2050.
